TAB AP. RECREATION 
though without success. Every one who had 
a gun or could borrow one resolved to join 
us on the morrow. One of the crowd, Tom 
Bolton, told me he had been ranching three 
winters, during which time he had shot at 
least 300 times, but had yet to taste a piece 
of antelope. 
Daylight next morning found us well out 
in the antelope country, where we hunted 
until dark, and although we had a number 
of long-range shots, not a single antelope 
was killed. This discouraged some of the 
boys, and the following day just Tom Bol- 
ton and myself started out, I promising to 
get him a successful shot. We rode out to 
the buttes and picketed our horses, and then 
went on foot, looking carefully over each 
hill in turn, until finally I saw a very large 
band feeding out on a flat. I crawled up 
behind a badger’s den and counted 137 
animals. They were fully 1,500 yards off, 
and as there was no possibility of getting 
nearer, Tom fired two or three shots at 
them. They separated and went in three 
different directions. We followed the band 
that went in the direction nearest the ranch, 
but stood no chance of getting close to them 
until they got in among the buttes. 
After a time we saw a lone antelope feed- 
ing on a hillside, but it took us quite a little 
while to get within range. Bolton was so 
sure of him that he missed, but as the ante- 
lope dashed down the hill a second shot 
broke both his hind legs. It was really 
pitiful to hear him bleat when we went up 
to kill him, but the cowboy declared he had 
paid well for the privilege. 
It was getting late, so after cleaning our 
quarry and skinning the head, which I car- 
ried in my hand, we started back to the 
horses, now at least five miles distant. By 
the time we reached them it was too dark to 
return for the antelope, so we headed for the 
shanty, with the lights in its window, yet 
ten miles distant, for our guide. 
Bolton and I took out the wagon the next 
morning to bring in the antelope. A lone 
coyote had visited the carcass during the 
night and had contented himself with 
devouring the entrails and taking only a 
bite or two out of the neck. 
I now told my companion that I would 
go on ahead, on foot. I instructed him to 
give me at least two hours’ start and then, 
keeping the horses and wagon well out of 
sight behind the hills, to follow, and at the 
same time I handed him my field-glass. 
On I went for several miles, yet I saw 
nothing. 
It was now after ten o’clock and although 
I had only three shells left, having killed a 
jack-rabbit and fired several ineffectual 
shots at a wolf, I went on toward the buttes. 
In about an hour I saw a band of twenty-five 
or thirty antelope feeding across a long 
level, and I stopped on the hillside and 
watched them for over two hours. 
It was simply useless to attempt to get 
closer to that band, so I determined to wait 
for them to move on into the hills. Instead 
of going on into the buttes they lay down 
on the first hill, in plain view, yet too far for 
a shot. So I had to remain in my original 
position until they arose and went out of 
sight over the hill. 
I ran as fast as possible to the hill and 
crawled to the top, only to find them strung 
out at least 500 yards farther on, and as the 
wind was blowing very hard I was afraid to 
risk a shot. They were feeding toward a 
ravine, so I concluded to wait again, hop- 
ing that they would go into it and thus 
enable me to get a good shot. 
When the last antelope disappeared, I 
immediately ran as fast as I could toward 
a washed place in one of the buttes. It was 
my aim to reach the crest of the hill and 
wait until the game came feeding by. I was 
obliged to cross a large slough that had 
dried up and in which the grass was as high 
as my shoulders, and while running through 
this I glanced in the direction of the ante- 
lope. There they all stood, in the edge of the 
ravine, not over one hundred yards away. 
The instant I caught sight of them I 
dropped .in the grass and ran back on my 
tracks to the top of the hill to the side of 
them. ' 
As I peeped over the brow of the hill the 
antelope were all standing in a bunch, look- ~ 
ing at me. By reason of the gentle slope I 
was obliged to lie as close to the ground as 
possible, and when the rifle was raised I 
found I was not quite near enough to the top 
to get a good sight. I wriggled along a few 
feet farther, while the band trotted uneasily 
up and down, never for one moment taking 
their eyes off of the very small part of me 

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